Local News from Morecambe & Heysham

Elms Hotel to be DEMOLISHED!!!

2009-06-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Plans were resubmitted this year to demolish the popular resort hotel and build assisted living apartments for the over 55s. Despite numerous objections Lancaster City Council has once again given approval to a controversial development.

The Elms Hotel is popular with residents and visitors alike; as a place for staying and as a venue to provide numerous functions for which there is no substitute nearby.

This historic building started out life as a Gentleman's Home and has slowly been enlarged to the building you see today.

The original plans to demolish the Elms also brought numerous objections. This was initially refused, but yesterday (Monday 29th June), resubmitted plans were approved by a sweeping majority on Lancaster City Council's Planning and Highways Regulatory Committee.

So what do we have here? In a time when Morecambe is crying out for decent accommodation the local council is doing all it can to remove all our big hotels. First it was the Grosvenor (now sadly demolished), then the Broadway (this still standing but permission has already been granted to demolish and build new apartments). Now it is the Elms turn. What next? The Strathmore? Surely not the Midland! With this council one cannot be certain of anything.

We also have to ask what the new Morecambe Town Council makes of this decision. Were they even asked?

Watch this space...

Charity Event Success!

2009-05-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

On Thursday the 21st of May the Charity Garden, Growing Matters, held an open day at its main site at Lancaster & Morecambe College.

There were a number of different attractions including Ye Olde Smiling Penguin Cafe, exotic plant stall, crafts and mosaics, a plant swap and various green information displays. Piccadilly Garden also had a stall in the greenhouse.

Overall the event was a huge success with lots of people visiting. Despite the recent showers the weather was excellent with lots of warm sunshine. This was the first event of its kind for Growing Matters and because of the recent interest it could well be doing more in the future.

Growing Matters is a charity garden centre providing voluntary work for people with mental health difficulties. It is based at Lancaster & Morecambe college and is open to the public selling plants, seasonal fruit & veg, crafts, mosaics and garden furniture. All plants and produce are grown using environmentally friendly methods. Being a charity allows Growing Matters to sell its products at very reasonable prices.

The Garden Centre is open Monday to Thursday, 9 am to 3:30 pm.
Call 01524 581405 for further enquiries.

LANCASTER CITY GETS A HAUNTING TRIBUTE

2009-05-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Local TV Presenter JASON KARL and ADELE YEOMANS, authors for Lancaster based publisher ‘Carnegie Publishing’ are set to spend a spooky Spring in Lancaster city for the third title in their ‘Haunted Heritage’ series of books, to be published at Halloween!

Well known as a face of paranormal television around the world, Jason has presented countless television programmes and series focussing on the strange and the unusual including Discovery Channel’s ‘Ghost Hunters’, Living TV’s ‘Most Haunted’ and ABC’s (America) ‘Diana – Spirit of a Princess’ . For his next project, he joins co-author and Tarot Specialist Adele Yeomans - owner of historic and haunted Mains Hall near the Fylde coast, to scout the Lancastrian landscape for all things ghoulish and ghostly!

The book will be a collection of true accounts of encounters with ghosts and spirits throughout the city and its villages within a ten mile radius. Already included are Lancaster Castle, a haunted autograph shop, and the strange tale of a roman ghost in a council house.

Jason, who lives in a village 6 miles out of Lancaster, said “Lancaster is such an historic and architecturally beautiful city, with so many lanes, ancient buildings and monuments I am sure we will find a few skeletons in the cupboards!”.

Adele, who owns and lives in the haunted hall with her husband Roger, is used to dealing with the dead and has always, had a fascination with the haunted realms. She said “as a full time Tarot Consultant and now as a Ghost enthusiast, I am looking forward to exploring the stranger side of Lancaster – we have already had some amazing encounters while writing this series of books, and we are looking for more”.

The paranormal pair are seeking stories of ghosts and hauntings from Lancaster, or anywhere within a ten mile radius for inclusion in the book. Hotels, public houses, private houses, shops, workplaces and more are all being sought for inclusion in what will be a ‘spirited’ read.

Anna Goddard, MD of Carnegie Publishing, based in Galgate, is excited about the prospect, she said “We are very excited to be working on this third publication in the ‘Haunted Heritage’ series with Jason and Adele, the paranormal has an enormous and ever-growing appeal and Lancashire seems to be a rich source of strange events combining tales of the paranormal with local history”.

The authors are now appealing to anyone who has seen a ghost, or had any kind of supernatural encounter in the area to contact them via email: stories@jasondexterkarl.com Those who do not wish to be identified can have their name altered to protect privacy.

The book will be published at the end of October to coincide with the festival of the dead – Halloween!

What we could have had...

2009-02-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

As you know there has been a lot of controversy over the Central Promenade Site this last year or so. This is because the development is mostly residential, very large in height and seriously lacks the attractions needed to bring people to the town.

In 2005/6 a design competition was held to find an architect to redesign the site. There were about 100 entries and this was later narrowed down to 6 designs.

The question that has to be asked is why these 6 were considered the best. The public certainly had no involvement in this decision and non of these other designs were on display to the public.

If you look across the Internet you will find many of these proposals that other architects submitted. Some very different to what was chosen. I'm not saying these were any better than the ones which were eventually chosen, but it does raise the question as to why there was no public say on the alternatives.

Some of the alternative designs are as follows:

http://www.loosarchitects.nl/projectpages/mixeduse/MOR/MORmaorcambepromenade.html

http://www.spacelab.co.uk/node/83

http://www.schemataworkshop.com/site/plan_morecambe.php

http://www.hgp-architects.co.uk/london4.html

http://www.barrgazetas.com/main.html - You'll need to look at their projects page to find theirs.

http://www.patricknicholson.co.uk/projects/project6.htm

http://www.urbed.coop/journals_show.php?j_id=97

http://www.esa-ltd.com/think/1/12/

http://www.stephengeorge.co.uk/future/morecambe.asp

http://www.3w.org/index.php/projects/project/36

Child Graddon Lewis Architects

These are just a few of the competition entries which were submitted. Unfortunately whether you prefer these or not, they were never on view for the local population to inspect.

Midland Hotel Boundary Wall Under Threat

2008-08-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Phase 1 of the Urban Splash proposals to develop the central promenade area include demolition of the boundary wall in front of the Midland Hotel to create a new setting for the building.

The Midland is a Grade II listed building and that includes the boundary wall and spiral entrance piers. These are unique in the setting for the Midland and would be of great architectural loss if they were to be removed.

As far as can be seen, no planning application has been submitted to demolish part of the listed building; but plans for Phase 1 have already been submitted and therefore the wall would have to go if they were to proceed.

Controversy over Central Promenade Plans

2008-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Plans to redevelop Morecambe's Central Promenade site were submitted late 2007 by Urban Splash, but were not available to view fully until mid 2008. This has only given the public a short time to view and comment on what could be one of the resorts' biggest and controversial developments in recent years.

The Architectural firm FLACQ originally won an architectural competition on how to develop the promenade site in 2006.

Since then there have been only two public consultations on the plans. One, for the public to see and comment on the original six finalists and a second after the competition to comment on Urban Splash and FLACQ's new plans for the site.

It is clear from what was submitted in the original competition that what is proposed now very different from what has been submitted in their recent planning application.

What we have now are six fingered blocks. These mostly rise at four floors from the promenade to heights of six to eight floors at the sea. The first two blocks in Phase I start at four floors from the ground, next to the Midland, and six at the rear. This makes them higher than the current Midland Hotel, and these are the smallest blocks! Apart from the way they fan out from the promenade the blocks bare very little resemblance to their original proposals.

The original tourist attraction, now referred to as the 'Summer Garden' seems to have shrunk in size considerably and is more angular in design than their original.

The bulk of the development is actually residential with apartments and studio flats (bed-sits) occupying five of the fingered blocks. These number about 380 units in total. The sixth block is thought to be a new 130 bed hotel.

So far, a large number of objections have been submitted to the Lancaster City Council concerning the plans.

It should also be noted that at the original consultation showing the six finalists, this scheme was not the public's most popular choice. The favourite was actually included new urban lakes with piers running across, new green areas, a few building blocks, hotel and Ferris wheel restaurant. Also mentioned was a sort of float-in cinema.

One also has to wonder if the six finalists were the six of the best. About a hundred different proposals were originally submitted and many of these can still be found on the Internet.

Elms Hotel is Saved!

2008-08-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

It has since been learnt that the local authority have, thankfully, refused planning permission for this controversial development.

It is just a pity they couldn't have used the same common sense with regards to the Broadway Hotel....

Another Big Hotel Bites The Dust!!!

2008-04-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

First the Grosvenor was demolished and replaced with luxury apartments. Recently it was reported that the Broadway has been given permission to be demolished and replaced by about 50 apartments. Now it seems one of Morecambe's most prestige hotels is to go the same way. That is, the Elms Hotel.

A recent planning application has been given to demolish the building and replace it with 48 assisted living apartments.

So, at a time when Morecambe desperately needs large good quality hotels, the big ones we have are being torn down to make way for living accommodation. Is this really what Morecambe wants right now? Surely if the Midland Hotel can be made viable again, why can't the others?

It was also recently reported that Morecambe could get a 'second' Midland due to the popularity of the original. So this really disproves the idea that our big hotels are no longer viable. For years Morecambe has been crying out for large good quality hotels. Is it really such a good idea to demolish the largest ones we've got?